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Fiction

Home alone during a fierce thunderstorm; Emily hears a loud thud on the roof of her top-floor Manhattan apartment. Bravely investigating, she finds a badly wounded Pegasus and learns not only that Olympus is real, but that something terrible has been happening there. Enlisting the help of surly schoolmate Joel, Emily tries desperately to keep Pegasus a secret and still get him the help he needs to heal.

Japanese author/illustrator Taro Gomi has hidden all sorts of normal objects such as gloves, hearts, socks, scooters, and flags inside pictures for a look and find experience for the very young. The pictures are challenging but not too challenging for a young toddler or preschool child. A wonderful book to share as a lap book, or during storytime to see who can spot the item first.

If you like musing over a book's not-so-clear-cut ending for days afterward, you may love The Other Typist, too. The entire story is presented from Rose’s first-person perspective. Rose works as a typist at a New York City police precinct during Prohibition, transcribing criminals’ confessions. Alone for most of her life, she eventually begins a surprising and close friendship with the appealing and attractive new hire, Odalie.

I have found a new favorite mystery writer/series (unless the author tanks it in book 2 of the series...highly unlikely)! Kate Burkholder is the Police Chief in the small town of Painters Mill, Ohio, where she grew up in an Amish family. Some pretty dramatic and traumatizing events (detailed in the book) cause her to leave the Amish culture and join English society.

For the first time since her husband’s death, Natalie Waters is returning to her family’s cabin in the secluded north woods of Wisconsin. She expects to be surrounded by her memories and solitude, but what she finds is something altogether different. After her dog is attacked by a wolf, Natalie finds herself in the middle of the heated conflict between local advocates of the Timber Wolf population and local hunters. Her once peaceful retreat is now threatened by violence. Natalie turns to some old friends for support and ends up on another little adventure.

Still here? Good, I have a book that you may enjoy. Jennifer Government was released in 2004 though I think the content seems more relevant today than it did prior to the 2008 financial meltdown and its subsequent fallout.

The new series TJ Trapper, Bully Zapper, by Lisa Mullarkey published by Magic Wagon is a nice addition to all of the anti-bullying material being published right now. In TJ Zaps the New Kid, said new kid Livvy is a social bully, who says and does unkind things to her classmates. When TJ tries to report Livvy's bullying to his teacher he is reprimanded for tattling, and TJ struggles to find another way to end Livvy's bullying.

A crippled hospital, an orphaned young girl, and two heroic doctors provide the axis for a powerful story set in the war weary Russian province of Chechnya during a decade of tension that begins in 1994. "A Constellation of Vital Phenomena" allows the profound despair saturating the intersecting lives of inhabitants in a small Chechen village to come alive one character, one page at a time. Author Anthony Marra also weaves a spellbinding, historical narrative to accompany his story of loss, betrayal, love, and hope.

I have been a Neil Gaiman fan since reading my first Sandman graphic novel many years ago, his book American Gods is the only reason I ever went to House on the Rock and he writes Dr. Who episodes – so enough said, I’m an fan boy. His latest work certainly doesn’t hurt his legacy. The Ocean at the End of the Lane is a short book, if you get sucked in like I did you can knock it out in a night.

I loved this book. Joyland is about characters, more than anything. Granted, there are a couple ghosts, but they are incidental characters. Since it is published by Hard Case Crime, there is a murder too, but it happened before the timeframe of the book and is peripheral until near the very end, where action takes over and we find out “whodunit”.

This story follows where The Shifterended. In Blue Fire, our heroine, 15-year-old Nya, begins with the same goal that she had in The Shifter – to keep the people she loves safe. Unfortunately, because of her unique ability to shift pain from one person to another, this is tougher than it sounds. Tali, Nya’s sister, and the other takers are hiding in Geveg from the evil invading Duke of Baser. He is hunting for Nya and the taker

I found this book on a table near the new book shelves at the library. I picked it up in order to put it back on the shelf, but the cover caught my eye. I peeked inside, and before I knew it, I was off on an adventure complete with danger, magic, aliens, robots, monsters, mutants, battles, humor, and a tiny bit of romance (but not too much).

The Little Miss Bronte series, part of the BabyLit book series published by Gibbs Smith, are an elegant way to introduce the youngest child to the world of classical literature. Jane Eyre is a counting primer, and counts drawings, trees, pearls, and books, with quotes interspersed, such as "this book I had again and again perused with delight".

Wuthering Heights is a weather primer, so for breezy, the quote is "the weather was sweet and warm" and for stormy we read, "the storm came rattling over the Heights in full fury."

I love Paul. I love the black-and-white, curvy casual style in which his stories are illustrated. I would learn to read French if I were to learn that the Paul stories would no longer be translated into English. I've read Rabaliati's other semi-autobiographical stories, and have enjoyed following Paul's life in Canada from his summer job as a camp counselor to moving into his first place with his fiance in the city to his becoming a father. Rabagliati adds a new dimension to Paul's story by focusing on his in-laws, with emphasis on his wife's father, Roland.

"Knit Your Bit" was a slogan of the American Red Cross during World War I when the Red Cross decided there would not be enough warm clothes for the soldiers over the cold winter in Europe. Men, women, and children began knitting for soldiers. There really was a "knit-in" at Central Park in New York City on July 30, 1918, which is the setting for this fabulous historical fiction.

Oh I loved, loved, LOVED this book! Celia Door, aka Celia the Dark, is just starting high school after a horrific end to 8th grade...she loses her best (and only) friend, her parents have separated and the school mean girls, Sandy & Mandy, have targeted her to be their next prey. Needless to say, Celia is NOT looking forward to 9th grade. Then she meets Drake.

Tess Delaney makes a living recovering precious artifacts and returning them to their rightful owners. Little does she know that when she reunites an heirloom necklace, stolen by the Nazis, to Annalise Winther, she has set in motion events that will turn her world on its end. Tess’s story unravels on an apple orchard located in the lush and beautiful backdrop of the Sonoma Valley. It won’t take long for the simple country lifestyle to begin winning over this workaholic, but will a loving family and a promising romance be enough to convince Tess to stay…?

Just in time for summer, Cheesie Mack and his best friend Georgie are back. If you haven’t read Cheesie Mack is Not a Genius or Anything, you should, but it doesn’t have to stop you from reading this book because Cheesie fills you in on all the important details right at the beginning.

Family. Few words evoke more emotion. In "The Burgess Boys", Elizabeth Strout introduces a trio of siblings who wear the scars of unpleasant childhood memories. Jim, Susan, and Bobby manage to keep the evidence of old wounds well hidden from each other by living relatively separate lives. There exists an obvious pecking order enhanced by sarcasm and tainted with a profound sadness permeating all areas of their lives. Change is put into motion when a nephew's unwise decision brings them together to solv

I picked this book off the shelf without knowing the back story on it. I thought it odd that is was in the fiction section, as it seemed to be a book that might be connected with Antiques Roadshow. I opened it up to a page with a wine glass that had a Women & Infants logo. Wondering what the story was behind that I started reading and found myself pulled into a story about family lies, abandonment, reunion, understanding and forgiveness. This, along with some great wine reviews. All on a single page! (Tasting Notes, by Jeff Turrentine).

I love Jan Thomas’ silly, charming books with her bold, colorful comic-style illustrations, from Rhyming Dust Bunnies to Is Everyone Ready for Fun?Let’s Sing a Lullaby with the Brave Cowboy is her latest to date, and in my opinion, another hit. The cowboy of the title is actually not so brave; in his attempts to settle his cows down for the night, he interrupts his own lullaby with startled exclamations about what he imagines is lurking in the dark. The cows calm and reassure him--until, that is, something really IS in the shadows!

A very engaging and scary fantasy mystery that takes the heroine on a whirlwind trip into another world called Scotopia. If you liked Coraline or Alice in Wonderland you will certainly enjoy this fantasy.

Jackie Hart, transplanted to small town Florida from Boston, decides she needs to be more than just a wife and mother to three children. She creates a radio persona who has a late-night show, and soon the whole town is talking about the mysterious Miss Dreamsville.

If you like dinosaurs and time travel than this is just the book for you. It is a fast paced adventure science fiction story perfect for boys and girls that love history, dinosaurs, and time travel. The action starts on page one and it never ends. Max and his older brother and sister, twins Kyle and Emma, are sent to stay with their grandfather at his ranch in Texas on the Colorado River while their mother is off studying dinosaurs in Mongolia. As soon as they arrive, their Grandfather tells them that Emma will be kidnapped, he will have

In Carlos Ruiz Zafon's The Shadow of the Wind, a book seller takes his son Daniel to the Cemetery of Forgotten Books, where he finds among its labyrinthine stacks a book by Julian Carax called The Shadow of the Wind. It's the best book he's ever read and he wants to learn more about the author and read more of his books, but he discovers that not much is known about the author and that copies of his books are notoriously difficult to find. Daniel isn't satisfied with this and endeavors to learn more.

This adorable Penguin Young Readers Level 2 Early Reader about a red balloon and a yellow kite who fall in love is delightful. The simple, brightly colored illustrations will attract young readers, and the story will soften the hardest of hearts. The ending makes this librarian hope for some kind of sequel, either with kite and balloon again, or with another set of similar objects falling in love.

Around the Neighborhood: a Counting Lullaby is an adaptation of "Over in the Meadow", the classic folk song that was first written down in 1870. A mother and her baby baby set off for a walk around the neighborhood, and see numerous animals that a child might normally see in their neighborhood, such as cats, crows, bees, or ladybugs. The illustrations were produced digitally, and are easy to recognize, with bright colors galore.

Wow! This book (and audio book) are absolutely phenomenal. I will start by saying, as a rule, I never enjoy books written in verse. However, I thoroughly enjoyed this one - especially listening to the audio. Five different voice actors perform the role of two dozen passengers and crew, and even the Iceberg.